ECONOMIC TERRORISM Intro 1.

Eco terrorism is the exploitation of others on the basis of eco gains or

benefits and this exploitation may be done by a cty, a company or a group. The United States represents less than 5 percent of the world's population; it consumes more than 25 percent of the world's resources. This is accomplished to a large degree through the exploitation of other countries, primarily in the developing world. Why I call it eco terrorism, because this exploitation has killed more human beings than all other forms of terrorism. 24000 people in this world die every single day because they are unable to obtain life sustaining food. The pharmaceutical industry denies life saving drugs to millions of HIV infected Africans. But US has spent around 300 billion dollars in Iraq war which UN estimates that for less than half the amount, every person on planet can be provided with clean water, adequate food and basic education. Aim 2. Seq 3. I shall present the presentation in the seq as flashed:a. b. c. d. e. Hist backgr Partners of modern eco terrorism. Tools of modern eco terrorism Examples from recent hist. Concl. To present the concept of eco terrorism and how this has affected people around the globe.

Historical Backgr 4. Eco terrorism has been there since centuries. a. Opium Wars. They were fought b/w Chinese and British Empire. British faced a trade imbalance in favour of Chinese and invested heavily in opium to redress the balance. Firstly, they cultivated opium instead of food grains in Bengal. By 1790, 2.5 million people had died in Bengal because of famine. Secondly, complete Chinese nation was converted in to drug addicts just to offset trade deficit. Partners of Modern Eco Terrorism 5. There are three partners of this eco terrorism. They are:a. b. c. Banks. Like world bank, IMF and other financial institutions. to include engineering, construction, oil Big Corporations. and other companies. US Govt. These three together are building an empire which has put Roman, Greek and 18th &19th Century colonial powers to shame in term of exploitation. But, they have learned from history and today, they dont carry swords with them initially and resort to the old models of building empire only when they fail in their initial plans. Tools of Modern Economic Terrorism 6. a. There are three tools of this eco terrorism i.e. EHM, the Jackals and Eco Hitmen. (1) Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, IMF, USAID, and other Military.

foreign "aid" organizations into the coffers of huge corporations. These take the form of loans to develop in-frastructure dams, highways, ports, airports, with the condition that engineering and construction companies from US must build all these projects. In essence, most of the money never leaves the United States; it is simply transferred from banking offices in Washington to engineering offices in New York, or San Francisco. Despite the fact that most of the money is returned almost immediately, the recipient country is required to pay it all back with interest. If an EHM is completely successful, the loans are so large that the debtor is forced to default on its payments after a few years. When this happens, then like the character of Shylock in novel Merchant of Venice written by Shakespeare, they demand pound of flesh. This often includes one or more of the following: control over United Nations votes, the installation of military bases, or access to precious resources such as oil, minerals or the Panama Canal. Of course, the debtor still owes the moneyand another country is added to the global empire. b. The Jackals. Whenever ldr of any cty resisted their plan and EHM failed, the jackals who are CIA assassins are always there, lurking in the shadows. Whenever, they emerged, the heads of the state were overthrown or have died in violent accidents. c. die. The Military. And if the jackals fail as they failed in Iraq, Panama, Vietnam, then old models resurface. Young Americans are sent to kill and to

d.

Examples:(1) Guatemala. Jacob Arbenz, president of Guatemala resisted the United Fruits a company owned by Bush senior, which was the largest and most oppressive landholders in the cty. CIA orchestrated a coup, American pilots bombed Guatemala city and democratically elected Arbenz was replaced by ruthless dictator Colonel Carlos Armas who reversed all the land reforms. (2) Ecuador and Panama. Ecuador is in far worse shape today than it was, before US introduced her to miracles of modern economics, banking and engineering period known as oil boom. Official poverty grew from 50 to 70%, and public debt from 240 million dollars to 16 billion. And when President Jamie Roldos went after oil companies, he died in a plane crash on 24 May 81. Two months later, Omar Torrijios President of Panama died in plane crash as he refused to renegotiate Panama Canal treaty and expelled Bechtel Engineering Company from Panama. (3) Saudi Arabia Money Laundering Affair (SAMA). Since Saudi Arabia never needed any loan as they had oil so technique adopted here was different. Fourth Arab Israel war started on 6th October 73 and on 19th October, Saudi Arabia and other Arab ctys imposed a total oil embargo on US in retaliation of her sp to Israel. Duration of oil embargo was short but impact immense. Oil prices increased 400 times which convinced wall street and Washington that it could never be tolerated again. US started negotiating and finally House of Saud agreed on four conditions. For its part, the U.S. government promised to keep the Saud family in power.:Those conditions were:-

(a) (b)

invest a large portion of its petrodollars in U.S. government securities. allow the U.S.Treasury Department to use billion of dollars in interest from these securities to hire U.S. corporations to westernize Saudi Arabia.

(c) (d)

maintain the price of oil within limits acceptable to US. Saudi Arabia committed to trading oil exclusively in U.S. dollars. With the scratch of a pen, the dollar's sovereignty was reestablished. Oil replaced gold as the measure of a currency's value.

(e)

In the private sector, the Saudis supported Harken Energy, a struggling oil company in which George W. Bush was an investor.

(4)

Iraq. Reagan and Bush Administration were determined to turn Iraq in to another Saudi Arabia. However, by late 80s it was clear that Sadam was not buying in to EHM scenario. This was great embarrassment to first Bush administration. Jackals also failed as no insider was ready to take risk on Saddam as they feared if they failed, Saddam would kill their complete family. So, there was no option but to go for a war. (a) First Gulf War. As Bush searched for a way out, Saddam played into his hands. In August 1990, he invaded Kuwait. Bush responded with a denunciation of Saddam for violating international law, even though it had been less than a year since Bush himself had staged the illegal and unilateral invasion of Panama which was condemned by everyone across the globe.

(b)

2nd Gulf War.

A year before he became vice president,

Dick Cheney, CEO of Halliburton, worlds 2nd largest oilfield services corporation, said: By 2010 US will need an additional fifty million barrels a day. So where is the oil going to come from? . . . Iraq, with 10 percent of the worlds reserves, seemed to be the easiest to turn around. Concl 7. The 1997 Asian economic collapse, also known as the "IMF crisis." began in Asia, and impacted hundreds of millions of people and resulted in thousands of deaths from disease, starvation, and suicides. For those willing to listen, it sent a strong message about the true intent of the IMF and the World Bank. 9/11 killed 3000 americans but NATO and US has killed thousands of people after that and yet they claim to be champions of democracy. I am certain that when enough of us become aware of how we are being exploited by the economic engine that creates an insatiable appetite for the world's resources, and results in systems that foster slavery, we will no longer tolerate it. We will reassess our role in a world where a few swim in riches and the majority drown in poverty, pollution, and violence.